South Africa unveils Nelson Mandela unity statue in Pretoria

A day after the anti-apartheid revolutionary was buried, South Africa unveiled a giant 30-foot bronze statue of the former president. The unity statue was unveiled today December 16th on the lawns of the Union Buildings, which is the seat of government in Pretoria.

President Barack Obama , QUEEN and other powerful people in the world pay tribute to Nelson Mandela

President Barack Obama has paid an emotional tribute to his personal hero Nelson Mandela, saying he could not imagine life without the former South African President.
Speaking shortly after the death of the civil rights leader was announced, Mr Obama said now is the time for people to pause and honor the fact 'that Nelson Mandela lived.
He said: 'Like so many around the globe, I cannot fully imagine my life without the example that Nelson Mandela set.'
'He no longer belongs to us - he belongs to the ages,' Mr Obama said from the White House briefing room.





The Queen has said she is 'deeply saddened' to learn of Nelson Mandela's death, saying the former South African president 'worked tirelessly for the good of his country'.A statement from Buckingham Palace said: 'The Queen was deeply saddened to learn of the death of Nelson Mandela last night. He worked tirelessly for the good of his country, and his legacy is the peaceful South Africa we see today.


'Her Majesty remembers with great warmth her meetings with Mr Mandela and sends her sincere condolences to his family and the people of South Africa at this very sad time.'
The Prince of Wales also paid tribute to the former South African leader.He said: 'Mr Mandela was the embodiment of courage and reconciliation. He was also a man of great humour and had a real zest for life.
'With his passing, there will be an immense void not only in his family's lives, but also in those of all South Africans and the many others whose lives have been changed through his fight for peace, justice and freedom.
'The world has lost an inspired leader and a great man. My family and I are profoundly saddened and our thoughts and prayers are with his family.'


Prime Minister David Cameron said: 'Nelson Mandela showed us the true meaning of courage, hope, and reconciliation.'
'My heart goes out to his family - and to all in South Africa and around the world whose lives were changed through his courage.'


Cameron tweeted that the flag at No 10 Downing Street would be flown at half-mast.
'A great light has gone out in the world,' Cameron said. 'Nelson Mandela was a hero of out time.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said: 'Every so often history produces an individual whose message is universal, and Nelson Mandela will be mourned and missed on every continent around the globe.'
Labour leader Ed Miliband called his work to unite South Africa in the face of personal hardship and oppression 'extraordinary'.
He said: 'The world has lost the inspirational figure of our age. Nelson Mandela taught people across the globe the true meaning of courage, strength, hope and reconciliation.'
Foreign Secretary William Hague said Mr Mandela's life story is 'a compelling and inspiringly profound political journey'.
Former prime minister Tony Blair said the political leader was 'great man' who had made racism 'not just immoral but stupid', while former prime minister Gordon Brown called Mr Mandela 'the greatest leader of our generation'.

Former South African president F.W. de Klerk, who was the last white president of the country before Mandela came to power, had nothing but praise for the 'father' of the country.
'He made reconciliation happen in South Africa,' Mr de Klerk told CNN
'There was an immediate I would say a spark between the two of us.
'I always respected him and I always liked him as a person he was a magnanimous person, he was a compassionate person.
Mandela's South African comrade Desmond Tutu, the first black Archbishop of Cape Town, wrote an article on his friend's passing, saying that the world was a better place because of Mandela.
'He was not only an amazing gift to humankind, he made South Africans and Africans feel good about being who we are. He made us walk tall,' Mr Tutu said.
Echoing Mr Obama's speech, all of the living U.S. presidents made statements of their own about Mandela.
Bill Clinton, who met with Mandela on a number of occasions and grew close with the elderly leader, released a statement on behalf of his family.



Today the world has lost one of its most important leaders and one of the finest human beings,' who was 'a champion for human dignity'.
'He proved that there is freedom in forgiving, that a free heart is bigger than a closed mind.'
Mr Mandela came to America to attend President Clinton's inauguration in 1994 and Mr Clinton visited the ailing leader earlier this year.
Madeline Albright, Clinton's secretary of state, issued a statement of her own saying Mandela 'taught us all that forgiveness is stronger than hate. The best way to honor his passing is to follow his example'.
Both Bush presidents reacted to the death of the African leader.

Nelson Mandela leaves hospital but he remains 'critical and at times unstable'

Anti-apartheid leader and former South African President Nelson Mandela was discharged from hospital and returned home on Sunday after being treated for a recurring lung infection.
President Jacob Zuma's office said the government would like to wish Mr Mandela "all the best" as he continues his recovery at his Johannesburg home.
In a statement, the government said: "Madiba's condition remains critical and is at times unstable.
'Nevertheless, his team of doctors are convinced that he will receive the same level of intensive care at his Houghton home that he received in Pretoria.
'His home has been reconfigured to allow him to receive intensive care there. The health care personnel providing care at his home are the very same who provided care to him in hospital.
'If there are health conditions that warrant another admission to hospital in future, this will be done.'
His condition has fluctuated since he was admitted to hospital in June with a lung infection.
The illness is said to date back to his days in prison during his anti-apartheid campaign.
His family have been hoping that his health would improve sufficiently for him to return to  his specially adapted home in Johannesburg.
Around the time of his birthday in July, it was widely feared that Mandela was close to death.



The location of Mr Mandela's grand family home on the wealthy Johannesburg suburb of Houghton is one of South Africa's worst-kept secrets.
It is frequently visited by media and well-wishers who leave messages for a speedy recovery on painted stones outside the residence.

Doctors advise family to Unplug Mandela’s life support machine

Doctors advise family to Unplug Mandela’s life support machine

Doctors treating Nelson Mandela said he was in a “permanent vegetative state” and advised his family to turn off his life support machine a week ago, according to court documents obtained by AFP Thursday.
“He is in a permanent vegetative state and is assisted in breathing by a life support machine,” said the court filing dated June 26.
“The Mandela family have been advised by the medical practitioners that his life support machine should be switched off.
“Rather than prolonging his suffering, the Mandela family is exploring this option as a very real probability,” read a filing from the family’s lawyer, relating to a dispute over the final resting place of Mandela’s three children.
Since the document was written, the government, family members and people visiting Mandela have reported his condition has improved.
“He is clearly a very ill man, but he was conscious and he tried to move his mouth and eyes when I talked to him,” Denis Goldberg, one of the men who was convicted with Mandela, told AFP after visiting him on Monday.
“He is definitely not unconscious,” he said adding that “he was aware of who I was.”
Goldberg said he was asked by Mandela’s wife Graca Machel to pay him a visit “just to give him mental stimulation.”
Presidency spokesman Mac Maharaj refused to comment on the documents.
“We don’t have a comment on that,” Maharaj told AFP, citing doctor-patient confidentiality.
“We have indicated from our point of view that based on the doctors’ report the condition of the former president is critical but stable at this stage.”
On the day the court document was written President Jacob Zuma reported that Mandela’s health had faltered and he cancelled a trip to Mozambique.
The next day the president reported that Mandela’s condition had “improved during the course of the night”.
Lawyers for Mandela’s relatives and family members themselves were not immediately available for comment.
Mandela’s wife earlier Thursday said that while occasionally Mandela has been uncomfortable during his nearly one month hospital stay, he has seldom been in pain.
“Now we are about 25 days we have been in hospital,” Machel said, giving thanks for the outpouring of well wishes from around the world for the Nobel peace laureate.
“Although Madiba sometimes may be uncomfortable, very few times he is in pain,” she said.
The former president, who turns 95 later this month, was rushed to hospital on June 8 with a recurring lung infection.
Meanwhile Nelson Mandela’s grandson thrust an increasingly acerbic family feud firmly into the public eye.
Mandla Mandela, forced by a court to return the remains of three of Mandela’s children to the revered South African leader’s proposed burial ground in Qunu, launched a tirade at close family members.
With his grandfather lying critically ill in hospital, Mandla reacted furiously to the court order, accusing one of his brothers of impregnating his wife and others of being born out of wedlock.
He also accused other close relatives of money grabbing.
“In the past few days I have been the target of attacks from all sorts of individuals wanting a few minutes of fame and media attention at my expense,” Mandla said at a nationally televised press conference.
He accused Mandela’s daughter Makaziwe of trying to “sow divisions and destruction” in her family.
The anti-apartheid hero’s ex-wife Winnie, who has regularly visited him in hospital, “has no business in the matters of the Mandelas,” Mandla added.
He also lashed out at his own brother Ndaba for claiming he was born out of wedlock.
“I don’t want to hang out our dirty linen as a family in public but he knows very well that my father impregnated a married woman of which he is the result of that act…. As for the remaining of my two brothers we all know that they are not my father’s children.”
Mandla however said he would not fight a court order to move the remains of his father, uncle and aunt from his estate in Mvezo — the eastern village where he is overseeing large-scale development as the local traditional chief — back to nearby Qunu, Mandela’s childhood home.
The three bodies were exhumed Wednesday after a sheriff forced open the gates of Mandla’s estate with a pickaxe to allow three hearses to enter the property.
The graves were moved in 2011, allegedly without the family’s consent.

Nelson Mandela, rushed to hospital in a 'serious' condition with lung infection

Nelson Mandela,  rushed to hospital in a 'serious' condition with lung infection 


Former South African president Nelson Mandela was rushed to hospital in a 'serious' condition today following a recurrence of the lung infection that has plagued him in recent months.
The 94-year-old anti-apartheid leader, whose health has been failing in recent years, has been hospitalised three times since December.



'The situation is serious this time but doctors have assured us he is comfortable,' presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj told television station eNCA.

Mr Maharaj said members of Mandela's family had accompanied him to the hospital in Pretoria and remained at his bedside.
His wife, Graca Machel, cancelled a scheduled appearance at a hunger summit in London today to remain at her husband's side.